The Supreme Court on Friday refused to order a stay on the appointment of Election Commissioners and said it will hear the matter next week. The court was hearing writ petitions challenging the appointment procedure of Election Commissioners under the new Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 (Act).

The new law excludes the CJI from the selection panel, contradicting an order of the top court in 2023 that directed appointments to the posts of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners to be made by the President on the advice tendered by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India. The new Act brought by the government replaced the CJI with a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister.

The EC Appointments Act was passed to replace the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991, bringing in key changes to the appointment, salary, and removal procedures for top election officials.

The removal of the CJI from the selection panel triggered immense criticism from the Opposition which accused the ruling government of executive overreach and encroachment on the EC’s autonomy. A bunch of petitions, including those by Congress leader Jaya Thakur and the ADR, among others, were subsequently filed in the Supreme Court.

During the hearing today, advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for one of the petitioners, said before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta, and Augustine George Masih that the top court’s judgment in the Anil Baranwal case could not be overturned.

However, Justice Khanna expressed the court’s reluctance to pause the operation of a legislation. “The matter came up twice. On both occasions, it was pointed out that normally we do not stay by an interim order a legislation,” he said, according to Live Law.

Advocate Singh, however, pointed out instances where the court stayed the operation of laws and cited a case where an Ordinance was stayed. He also said that the meeting to select new ECs following Arun Goel’s resignation was preponed from March 15 to March 14.

The top court had agreed to list the matter on March 15. A day ahead of the hearing, the selection committee met and finalised the names of Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu for appointment as Election Commissioners. Both officials took charge this morning.